Software Alliance's Espinel Calls USMCA a Digital Trade 'Win'

Calling it "win for digital trade," BSA|The Software Alliance CEO Victoria Espinel, noted the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement has a default rule that data can move across borders. Ratification of the North America Free Trade Agreement replacement could be "one of the steps toward ... an international consensus on data," she said Thursday at the Washington International Trade Association. Espinel described USMCA as a great template for future negotiations with Japan and with the EU but "the next version could be better." She would like to see stronger language on encryption, with explicit language not allowing back doors for encrypted messages. She wants language to prohibit governments from using "cybersecurity as a pretext for protectionism" and from requiring disclosure of algorithms or source codes to get market access.